I Accidentally Joined a Cult: Part 2
My cult leader and his devoted followers
Sovereign Grace Churches (SGC) is the name of the cult I was a part of for fifteen years. They call themselves a “global community of churches” which is misleading, because their beliefs and practices are inconsistent with orthodox, healthy churches. In fact, I will argue that SGC has consistently and historically shown the classic markers of a cult.
What exactly is a cult? There are several ways to define cults. According to Miriam-Webster, a cult is “a religion regarded as unorthodox or spurious” or “great devotion to a person, idea, object, movement, or work.”
Most experts agree that the critical components of a cult are a charismatic leader, unquestioning devotion to that leader, a belief that their doctrines are the key to a happy and transcendent life, and systematically controlling cult members. Cults also often have a history of systematically covering up abuse rather than reporting to the authorities for fear that it will tarnish their reputation. They also hold a persecution complex, believing that outsiders are out to get them, and they often foster an “us vs. them” mentality.
I have found SGC to check all of these boxes consistently. The scope of this article will be to discuss the first two ingredients that make a cult: a charismatic leader, and unquestioning devotion to that leader.
Charismatic Leader
SGC was co-founded by a very charismatic leader, C.J. Mahaney. Mahaney is an incredibly animated speaker, has a larger-than-life personality, and is profuse with flattery and charm. When he addresses a crowd, he uses hyperbolic compliments. He has a well-known quote where he refers to the church as “the dearest place on earth” and Sunday as “the happiest day of the week.” Mahaney is known for his signature preaching style of yelling, whispering, laughing, and crying in a short amount of time. His over-the-top sincerity and charm have allured thousands into believing his “humble pastor with a heart of gold” persona.
C.J. Mahaney co-founded SGC in the 1970’s with Larry Tomczak, who later left, citing Mahaney’s spiritual abuse and tension over theological disagreements as the reason for his departure. Mahaney became the head leader of SGC, and his followers have consistently displayed an unquestioning devotion to him. As I mentioned earlier, this is a classic characteristic of cults. (Incidentally, he is reported to have a net worth of millions of dollars).
Blindly Devoted Followers
Mahaney’s followers not only are devoted to him, but they adore and seek to emulate him. For example, when I was a member of SGC, I often heard Mahaney’s church, Covenant Life Church, referred to as “the mothership” that all SGC churches aspired to be. I also noticed that many leaders took on Mahaney’s particular mannerisms and turns of phrase as if they were their own. Hand gestures, preaching styles, and even specific words and phrases that originated with Mahaney were duplicated among Sovereign Grace pastors and leaders. For example, see this video:
As Jonathan Rourke demonstrates in the above video, Mahaney’s theatrical mannerisms, hand gestures, stuttering, whispering, and appearance of being overcome by emotion were so well-rehearsed and rhythmic in his sermons, that you could begin to sense them even before he performed them. His pattern of preaching, as displayed in this video, became so predictable that its authenticity could be questioned.
During my time in SGC, I always found the excessive emulation of Mahaney to be strange. Yet this video shows a team of Sovereign Grace “pastor’s college” students singing and dancing about how they want to emulate Mahaney: “We want to teach like you, preach like you, cry like you.”
They are, unfortunately, not alone in their worship of Mahaney. Average SGC members venerated him and spoke about him as though he were a demigod. When he came to preach at our local church, there was an enthusiasm and excitement, unlike any other time. We clung to his every word, laughed at his every joke, cried at his every whispered prayer. We idolized him in such a dysfunctional way, revering him in a way no one should ever revere another human being other than Jesus.
Here is another video of church people worshiping C.J. Mahaney. They say things like, “You brought us into the Promised Land…. You made sure psycho-babble got nixed, C.J.! You gave our sinful natures a kick, C.J.! You loved us like a father while guiding us each step along the way!”
It wasn’t as though followers worshiped against the leadership’s instruction. SGC leadership also cultivated the worship of Mahaney, endorsing his every word, cultivating his celebrity status among their congregations, and refusing to hear any criticism against him.
Here is a video of Bob Kauflin, the director of Sovereign Grace Music, blatantly worshiping Mahaney. When I first watched this video, I assumed he was singing this song about God, and it took me a while to accept and believe the reality that this is an actual worship song about C.J. Mahaney:
“Our lives look more like Jesus because we followed you,
“And you led us to the cross, again and again….
“With humility and passion, and a bit of precious gift,
“Watching you look upward and learning how to live.”
Is it fair to blame Mahaney for his followers’ unquestioning devotion and worship? Isn’t this just a church “honoring” their pastor? That is what we were taught within SGC: that it is right, appropriate, and biblical to “honor” our pastors and leaders. However, in SGC culture, “honor” is a code word for blind loyalty and unquestioning devotion. Further, the leaders cultivate a culture that fosters this blind loyalty to themselves.
Systematically Silencing Critics
In a sermon from 4/17/16, Mahaney said,
“Any slanderous comment about the pastoral team should be challenged, and if necessary resolved. Why? Because the pastors are just sensitive souls, because pastors are so sensitive? No. That protection is needed in order to preserve the trust, in order to protect the unity of this church. That’s why that’s needed ultimately, for the advance of the gospel from this church.”
Notice the coded language here. By “slanderous comment” Mahaney means any criticism. The most important thing to an SGC member is “the advance of the gospel,” and Mahaney is telling them that any critical comment about their pastors will prevent the advance of the gospel and the unity of their church. The stakes could not be higher for followers to renounce critical thinking and to refuse to investigate claims of misconduct among their leaders. This is a quality that SGC shares with cults like Scientology, which restricts members from investigating their religion for themselves via outside sources. In Scientology, anyone who says or listens to anything critical of the leaders is declared a “suppressive person” and shunned from the group.
Similarly, in SGC, when one raises charges of misconduct against the leaders, or even asks the wrong questions, they are accused of gossip and slander. If they continue to ask questions or point out inconsistencies, they are usually shunned and labeled “bitter and divisive.”
The most blatant example of this cult quality is SGC’s decades-long sexual abuse cover-up, and their contempt for being questioned about these matters. This issue will take an entire article to unpack, but it is by far the most cult-like characteristic I have ever witnessed in this organization I used to believe in. Any questioning of the leadership or presentation of the evidence is met with accusations of “slander” against pastors. In fact, Mahaney gave the above sermon in 2016, right in the middle of his latest controversy of being exposed for his involvement in covering up abuse. In response to being questioned and held accountable, he twists a Bible verse to try to make it appear the Bible protects him from questioning. The effect this has on his captive audience is to convince them that God is on his side, that God is telling his people not to question their pastors. Again, this is a classic cult leader move: “God spoke to me in a unique way and is on my side, and he says you shouldn’t question me.”
The Correct Label Matters
Again, if you watch Mahaney teach or interact with him in any way, you would never think this affable, good-natured, down-to-earth guy could be capable of leading a cult. In writing this, I have often stopped to ask myself, “Am I being too harsh? Is it really his fault that his followers worshiped him?” I understand the gravity of accusing a pastor of being a cult leader.
However, I also believe that actions speak louder than words. Mahaney is profuse with gracious and kind words, yet his actions tell a different story. When I think of the gravity of labeling a pastor a cult leader, I also think of the gravity of not identifying this “global community of churches” as what they truly are: a cult. I think of the many, many lives that this cult has destroyed, the faith of so many that they have shattered, the victims who are still awaiting justice. I think of the children whose ideas of God and church are entirely tainted by this cult, who were physically beaten in the name of “biblical discipline” and “not sparing the rod.” I think of the LGBTQ youth, who silently listened as their leaders preached that their very existence is an abomination to God. I think of the many lies this cult has blatantly told vulnerable, trusting, good people: lies about God, about the Bible, about Jesus, about gender and marriage and parenting and education and everything that matters. I think of the many souls, myself included, who were so driven to despair, so crushed by these lies that they considered ending their lives (and some who actually did). I think of the many who suffered from mental illness and were denied access to lifesaving medications and therapy with a licensed practitioner. As Mahaney’s followers sang, he “made sure psycho-babble got nixed.” I think of the many hurting souls who will never, ever, trust a church again because if this is what church is, they rightly want nothing to do with it.
I am writing this because it matters that we identify Sovereign Grace a cult and not a church. Our words and our definitions matter.
The Courage to Deconstruct
Over the past few years, I have noticed a pattern among church people who are quick to criticize those who are “deconstructing.” According to Oxford dictionary, deconstruction means to “analyze (a text or a linguistic or conceptual system) by deconstruction, typically in order to expose its hidden internal assumptions and contradictions and subvert its apparent significance or unity.” Deconstructing a church or religion looks like recognizing the rotten fruit of such a system, tearing it all down, then reexamining each piece to see if there is any value in it, to reconstruct something better and truer.
Those who have been driven away from “churches” and cults, those who have been deeply wounded are further hurt when the response from church people is assuming the worst, and criticizing their motives.
“You’re only leaving so that you can be free to sin. You love your sin more than you love God.”
“You are never going to be truly happy if you leave us.”
“If you leave us, you only prove you were never a Christian to begin with.”
In reality, someone who has left everything that is familiar and comfortable, the only community they have ever known, is not doing this because they are selfish or sinful or never was a Christian. Leaving a familiar community is an incredibly difficult and painful step to take, and only someone brave enough to face the truth about that community could do such a courageous thing.
Deconstruction takes bravery and honesty and humility. It is incredibly painful to question everything you were once certain of and to admit that you were once a willing participant in a group that has caused so much damage. I cringe whenever I think of the many, many times I used to parrot my cult’s teachings to others and the many harmful words and teachings I spoke to the detriment of others.
If there is any hope for deconstructing people to return to a church, we need to start using the correct terms. We need to stop dignifying Sovereign Grace with the title of “church.” The same applies to any other “church” that is actually a cult.
Part of the confusion that results in deconstruction is applying innocent-sounding language for harmful things. None of us would ever give our children cocaine and tell them it was sugar. Similarly, when trusting individuals are told that something harmful for them is “biblical,” it brings confusion and destruction to them and results in bad associations with the Bible. If we dignify cults by calling them churches, we unwittingly tell a growing group of hurting, deconstructing people that the cult they escaped from is God’s kingdom, Jesus’ Bride, and God’s ideal for humanity. No wonder there is an epidemic of deconstructing people who want nothing to do with the church!
The most helpful thing we could do for people fleeing our churches is to start using the correct terms. We should call “biblical manhood and womanhood” its right name: patriarchy that is very unbiblical. We should call the physical abuse of children what it actually is: traumatizing abuse that is a criminal offense and not merely “biblical discipline.” We should call a decades-long sexual abuse cover-up its proper name: a criminal conspiracy, not a misunderstanding. We should call a group that teaches unorthodox, harmful teachings, which was started by a charismatic leader and unquestioningly devoted followers its proper name: a cult.
A Partnership of Cowards
Moreover, many of the most powerful and influential Christian organizations have continued to partner with and platform SGC and its leaders. The Gospel Coalition (TGC) has consistently supported Mahaney when presented with evidence of his involvement with abuse cover-up. My regional chapter of TGC in Arizona has an SGC corporate leader on their leadership team, who not only leads this regional chapter, but has spoken at their conferences. John Piper and his organization “Desiring God” have continued to platform Mahaney, despite the credible evidence of Mahaney’s involvement in a conspiracy to cover up abuse. As long as well-known Christian organizations continue to endorse this cult, SGC will continue to be recognized as a legitimate church organization, rather than the toxic cult that they are. I have pled with some of these leaders to reconsider their partnerships with SGC, but every one of my pleas has fallen on deaf ears. Fortunately, some individuals and organizations have called SGC to account.
My next article will discuss the theological reasons that SGC is a cult and dissect some of the harmful, unorthodox, even heretical teachings they call “biblical.” Then we will look at the “systems of control” that define all cults, and I will recount the specific ways that SGC has sought to control members’ behavior, information, thoughts, and emotions. Finally, we will examine the latest controversy about their well-documented abuse cover-up.
After this series, on a positive note, we will look at “Jesus and the Lost Sheep.” There is a lot the Bible has to say about abusive leaders and victims of their abuse, which will get the last word on this painful topic.
(This is part 2 of a 6-part series. Click here for part 1, part 3, part 4, and part 5. Part 6 is forthcoming).
